Tie down anchors are used to provide stable anchoring points for tying down house trailers, aircraft, large tents and similar objects or nonpermanent structures to prevent them from being moved from a desired location, and possibly damaged, by wind, etc. One end of the anchor is twisted into the earth and then a strap or cable connected to the object to be secured is fastened to the other end of the anchor. Typically, such anchors have irregular, unsymmetrical shapes. One preferred form of anchor which is highly effective and which can be economically manufactured comprises a shaft with a helical auger blade secured to one end and a head or mounting bracket at the other end to which a cable or strap may be fastened.
Packaging such irregularly shaped articles for transportion or storge poses problems. Heretofore, anchors of the described type have been mounted in sets in wooden frames for storage or shipment. Preparation of the frames and mounting of the anchors therein is time consuming and expensive. Moreover, the frames themselves add weight and take up space which increases shipping and storage costs.
Symmetrical articles such as pipes are often packaged by strapping them together in bundles (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,893). Attempts have also been made to bundle tie down anchors directly to each other in sets, but because of the irregular shape of each anchor, only loose bundles of the anchors have been produced. This approach has been found unsatisfactory because, with the individual anchors free to slide with respect to each other, the bundles are extremely awkward to handle.
It would be desirable if the anchors, despite their generally irregular shape, could be nested to form a stable unit. Heretofore, the only stably nestable anchors have taken the form of helical coils (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,732).